Check out this post that I read on the Persecution Blog today. You can find the article here if you would like to read it on their blog.

“This week a colleague and I had a discussion on the role of music in our lives. I shared with him that I value music and worship because they give me an opportunity to express my love and appreciation for Jesus Christ. In my opinion, worship is important because we get to commune with God and enhance our relationship with Him. I value music because while worshipping God, He speaks to me and I, in turn, express His importance to me.

“Recently, I watched a 1992 video recording of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs. Among other things, he spoke about how while in Communist prisons for more than 14 years, he and the other prisoners praised and worshipped God. Pastor Wurmbrand said they sang hymns and songs and used their hand and foot shackles as instruments. Can you imagine those sounds and melodies? He demonstrated on the video how they clanked the chains together, and shared while they worshipped God behind bars, they considered their hardships as a “light affliction just for a moment.” That really puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

“Pastor Wurmbrand’s testimony of courage challenges me to pray that the Holy Spirit energizes our brothers and sisters suffering around the world because of their belief in Jesus Christ. My prayer and desire is for God to continually encourage and uplift them in the midst of great difficulty and persecution. I encourage you to continue to pray God gives persecuted believers perseverance to continue their stand for Him. May they consider their challenges as a light affliction just for a moment.”

Finding joy in serving Him,

Josh Blaha

This topic has aroused my thinking many times in the past months. I feel that it is a topic feared by most because of the weight it holds and the difficulty to pursue …but overlooked by some because of how close it hits home.

I often hear that the greatest way to conquer an army is to become friends with that army and then betray them. I wonder how frequently this really does occur in our lives…not literally but spiritually. Many times I find myself growing cold to sins that plague me of which I can never seem to rid to the point that they just linger and linger till by life’s defense says, “Oh, I suppose they are not leaving. I will just call that my ‘pet sin’.” I soon begin ignoring such costly thoughts because I cannot seem to get away from them. I then fail to find time in my “busy” schedule to stay in God’s Word so that the light that I search my soul with grows dim, and my pet sins now hide away in the corners of my heart so that they blend in the with darkness of my humanity. I am very forgiving to myself for those sins because I am used to them, but I forget the One who died to dethrone them from me. He is the One who is hurting most…then it hits me – I have made myself ruler of my heart and have become the definer of what is important and what is not.

O LORD,
My every sense, member, faculty, affection, is a snare to me,
I can scarce open my eyes but I envy those above me, or despise those below.
I covet honour and riches of the mighty, and am proud and unmerciful to the rags of others;
If I behold beauty it is a bait to lust, or see deformity, it stirs up loathing and disdain;
How soon do slanders, vain jests, and wanton speeches creep into my heart!
Am I comely? What fuel for pride!
Am I deformed? What an occasion for repining!
Am I gifted? How I lust after applause!
Am I unlearned? How I despise what I have not!
Am I in authority? How prone to abuse my trust, make will my law, exclude others’ enjoyments, serve my own interests and policy!
Am I inferior? How much I grudge others’ pre-eminence!
Am I rich? How exalted I become!
Thou knowest that all these are snares by my corruptions, and that my greatest snare is myself.
I bewail that my apprehensions are dull,
My thoughts mean
My affections stupid
My expressions low
My life unbeseeming;
Yet what canst thou expect of dust but levity, of corruption but defilement.
Keep me ever mindful of my natural state,
But let me not forget my heavenly title,
Or the grace that can deal with every sin.¹

In order to correlate the subject to the content, I conclude by saying that many times we harbor sin in our lives and may grow tired or weary, but do not bunk with the enemy. Do not invite him to stay nor to come in but guard against him. Thought the enemy may be as close as your own flesh, we must always fight…fight…and endure to the end. May we never forget that He is the one who searches hearts and that we must constantly align ourselves to the book of truth and not just our whimsical justice.

Seek Him First,
Josh

—
1. Bennett, Authur, ed. The Valley of Vision. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975.

Thank you all for praying for me through these difficult times. I have learned how difficult life can be when throwing too much into the mix. I also have learned how easily God and His Word are set aside when work and school seem to have the preeminence. It is not a friendly encounter by any means.

Nevertheless, I have completed my semester, my brother has graduated (finally – way to go, Frick!), my second older older sister has only one semester left before she graduates, and summer fun is just around the corner.

There are many things that I wish I could have written down and posted about this semester, but God did not see that it was fit for me to do so. I am thinking that maybe sometimes God may just want to teach you something personally and just have you live it out and encourage those people whom he leads into your life. Maybe it is not so bad of an idea. If you can’t get it out, maybe you are not being verbal about what God has been doing in your life…either that or you need to find out how to be around more people. (I’m thinking that the first situation is the one that I fall under.)

Anyway, I just wanted to make this one short and tell everyone what is up so that they know that I did not fall off the face of the earth with my grades. Thank you all for your prayers. I hope to be posting more often now. May God be exalted above all things!

Josh